Hey eggheads, Juan Carlos Bagnell here, and a lot of us are going
through some work, life changes. Settling into a work at home routine, this is when
we’re likely finding out that a temporary setup on the couch, probably
isn’t a great idea. Let’s see if we can help clean this up. Here are our top 5
tips for improving your home workspace. Number 1! Adjust that monitor. Set your
monitor to the right height. This is an often overlooked issue for a lot of
people working on desktops, or who play a lot of PC games. The IDEAL workspace
would be set up so you can point the monitor directly at your face with a
minimum of glare or reflections on the screen. And try to position the monitor
at around arm's length distance from your face, and the top of your monitor
should be near your eye level. You shouldn't have to move your head
much to scan the width of the screen, and your head shouldn't be angled down to
read the middle of the display. For some folks, the company you work for might
have issued you a laptop. See if you can prop the laptop up higher,
maybe combined with an external keyboard and mouse, or ask your IT department
about an external monitor. And while we’re on the subject of posture
having a good adjustable chair with lumbar support can help you maintain proper
body position after setting up your screen. Number 2! With all the Zoom
video calls going on these days, a good webcam helps a lot. As mentioned in point
1, maybe you have a work laptop, and you’re finding that the built- in webcam
just isn’t getting the job done. Adding a web cam, especially one built for video
conferencing, can help improve the look of your communication significantly.
These add-on cameras will likely use higher quality sensors, have better
microphones, and will often be more adjustable, so you aren’t forced to tilt
your laptop display to get a good angle on your face. When setting up your
workspace, try to avoid a location where you’ll be backlit, which should also help
reduce glare on your monitor. With a proper webcam and some attention to
lighting, you’ll show up to meetings looking a lot better than your co-workers.
If you’re a little bit more tech savvy, you might be able to repurpose some gear
you already own. Using a USB capture card, you can hook up
a camera with an HDMI output to use as a REALLY high quality webcam. Make those
conference calls look a bit more cinematic. Number 3! Mouse and
keyboard. We can make your setup more ergonomic simply by adding a mouse and
keyboard. Laptops are great for portability, but working on them for long
periods of time can be fatiguing and hard on your wrists and hands. Your
keyboard should be directly in front of you, near the edge of your desk, and
positioned near elbow height. Resting your hands on the keyboard when you’re
not typing, should be pretty comfy. Should be comfortable and natural. Now, mouse versus touchpad, it’s
no contest. A mouse will offer finer control, and it’s more ergonomic than how
you have to bend your wrist to use most laptop touchpads. If you’re going to be
working from home for any significant length of time, you need a dedicated
mouse. Plus, you know… R Gee Bees… You can get some
really pretty lights on them. Number 4! A good headset means better audio for
you AND your coworkers. Learn from the gamers in your life. How many video
calls have you been on where other life sounds are interrupting the conversation?
Maybe you live with a spouse or roommates and your speakerphone setup is
interrupting their work flow. A good audio headset is well worth the investment.
You'll get better audio while you're working say you're streaming some music
or video, and you're less disruptive to anyone around you. And the noise
cancelling microphone on a gaming headset should pick up less noise in
your environment when you're chatting with co-workers so they get a less
distracting audio signal. As an audio snob, I can't overstate how much of a
win-win a good headset can be. Number 5! Don't forget to take some breaks.
This work from home situation is looking more and more like a marathon, and less
like a sprint. So it's important to pay attention to exactly how you're spending
your time - and remember to take some breaks. It's easy to forget how
disruptive office life can be. How often you’re distracted, how many steps you
might take walking around an office. Working from home can be a boon
for focus and productivity, but it’s also on you to remember to break up your day.
Try to take breaks every hour, especially if you’re wearing headphones. Shake out
your arms, stretch those legs. Try not to raid your pantry, but take a
proper lunch break when you can. And of course we should all probably be drinking more
water. Staying hydrated is always important. Ok folks, that’s going to do it
for this video. Our top five ways to improve your home workspace. If there are any
tips or tricks that have worked for you, don’t be shy, drop some comments down
below this video! Let’s share some good information with our family and friends.
And the Newegg team has pulled together some fantastic lists and kits to help
folks out. In the description below we'll have links to monitors, webcams, headsets -
all the key technology you need to properly setup your work from home
station. You can catch all of Newegg's work from home and home schooling guides
by clicking on the links in the description below. As always thanks so
much for watching, for sharing these videos, and subscribing to the channel.
For Newegg Studios, I'm Juan Carlos Bagnell, and I'll catch y'all on the next one.